


Reaching for the Stars

by MollyPollyKinz



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Captivity, Child Abuse, Crossover, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Genocide, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shiro is Wilbur, The egg is a pretty witch lady in this, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-19 06:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29870802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollyPollyKinz/pseuds/MollyPollyKinz
Summary: “Wilbur, what happened to you?”Wilbur closed his eyes and let out a shuddering breath.“We were… taken,” he muttered, “By aliens, I guess. We…” Wilbur opened his eyes. “I… it doesn’t matter.” Wilbur’s voice was much firmer this time. “It’s clear the garrison won’t believe a word I say, so I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. These aliens are searching for something calledVoltron, so we need to find it before they do.”Tommy’s blood ran cold.Or, I make a Voltron au that nobody asked for.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Ranboo, Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Floris | Fundy & Niki | Nihachu, Floris | Fundy & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Floris | Fundy & Wilbur Soot, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 123
Kudos: 286





	1. Chapter 1

_“In an unexpected tragedy, Galaxy Garrison crew Sam Andrews, Wilbur Soot, and Eret Underscore were lost on their mission to Kerberos. The cause is believed to be pilot error…”_

Tommy didn’t know what he had expected when he decided to raid the Galaxy Garrison’s closed-off alien crash-site in the middle of the night.

However, the _last_ thing he expected was to see _Wilbur_ strapped to a table like he was some sort of _lab specimen._

Tommy’s gut churned in anger, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. He needed to get Wilbur off of this _damn_ table and onto his hover-bike, and they could escape from the Garrison without a scratch. Easy.

Undoing the straps, Tommy tried not to think too hard about the metal prosthetic that had replaced Wilbur’s right arm. He tried not to wonder why Wilbur was wearing ratty clothing like he had come out of some sort of slave camp. He tried not to stare at the white streak in his hair, fulfilling all of Wilbur’s promises of graying early.

What had _happened_ out there?

Tommy managed to successfully heave Wilbur off the table. _Why did it feel like his prosthetic was the heaviest part of his entire body, why did it feel like Wilbur hadn’t eaten for days?_

He needed to get Wilbur out of here.

“Tommy!” A familiar voice cried out from the entrance of this lab-tent-thing. Tommy immediately tensed, reaching for the knife on his belt—

“Tommy, it’s me!” Tubbo said, emerging form the darkness of the tube, “It’s Tubbo!”

Tommy instantly relaxed. “Tubbo,” he breathed out, “Is that really you?”

 _“Everyone abandoned you,”_ a voice whispered in his head.

Tommy ignored it as Tubbo smiled.

“It’s good to see you again, man,” Tubbo said, his eyes landing on Wilbur. He scanned the rest of the room as if looking for something. “Is it just Wil?”

Tommy’s heart dropped in his stomach. He had nearly forgotten that Tommy wasn’t the only one who had lost to the Kerberos Mission.

“Damn, Tubbo,” he murmured, still having no trouble with heaving Wilbur over his shoulder, “Yeah, it’s just him. I’m so sorry.”

Tubbo shook his head, even though Tommy could clearly see the hurt in his eyes. “It’s fine,” he said, mustering up a smile, “It’s good to see Wilbur’s alright.”

Tommy opened his mouth to reply, but he was promptly interrupted by a new voice calling down the tube.

“Uh, Tubbo?!” The person called out, “Have you got him yet? Because they’re coming back!”

Tommy swore. He knew his diversion wouldn’t last for eternity, but he hadn’t expected to get sidetracked like this. Not that he wasn’t glad to see Tubbo after an entire year of silence between them, but still, they couldn’t afford to waste time like this.

“Come on,” Tommy grunted, carrying Wilbur toward the exit as quickly as he could, “We can take my bike.”

“Will we all fit?” Tubbo asked.

“It’s just four of us, right?” Tommy asked as they broke through the exit of the tent. Tommy could hear the Garrison trucks coming nearer. “You, me, Wil, and your friend.”

“Five,” Tubbo corrected, “Niki’s here too.”

Okay, five might be a squeeze, but nothing was impossible for the great Tommy Soot, so he handed Wilbur to the tallish red-head and hopped on to the driver’s seat of the hover-bike. The other three scrambled on, and Tommy _drove._

He let out an exhilarated laugh as the others screamed like little girls behind him. The Garrison trucks were closing in behind him, and Tommy swerved to the side, now driving along the edge of the canyon.

“If you fall, I am going to kill you!” Red-head guy screamed.

“We’re going to go over the edge!” Niki shrieked.

Tommy grinned and leaned forward. “I know.”

Tubbo was the only one laughing as Tommy dove over the edge of the canyon, pulling up in the nick of time, just like Wilbur used to.

_Wilbur._

Tommy glanced behind him, making sure Wilbur’s unconscious form was still safely in the red-head’s arms. Sure enough, Wilbur was there, and sure, he might look a whole lot more screwed up than Tommy remembered him, but he was still Wilbur.

Tommy let out another laugh as he focused his attention back onto the driving. He never thought he’d see Wilbur again.

And now here he was, alive and… maybe not well… but certainly riding on Tommy’s top-speed hover bike that had managed to outrun the _Galaxy Garrison._

Tommy had certainly not expected _this_ when he woke up this morning and realized that he had run out of canned beans to eat for breakfast.

When they reached Tommy’s shack, everybody stumbled out, letting out various degrees of groans.

“You—” Niki gasped, looking like she couldn’t decide if she was going to puke or not, “You always know how to make things exciting, Tommy.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Oh please,” he groaned, “It’s not like I _chose_ to have the entire Garrison to chase us into the canyon.”

Tubbo laughed. “Yeah, instead you chose to break into an alien crash site.”

Tommy squawked. “And that was perfectly justified, seeing that my older brother was being held _captive!”_

Silence fell over the group at the mention of Wilbur, who was still unconscious in the red-head’s arms.

“Um…” the red-head began slowly, “Do you have somewhere specific you want to put him?”

Tommy sighed, gesturing for the three of them to follow him as he walked inside the shack. The door creaked loudly as he entered, and Tommy flicked on the switch, the lights buzzing ot life.

Tommy winced when he saw the state of the inside. Papers and empty cans were strewn all over the floor; a few pieces of dirty laundry hung from the small bookshelf, and his once-conspiracy-board now still had char-marks all over it.

That was a story for another time, though.

Tommy walked over to the couch, shoved off the trash that was strewn on some of it, and began searching for a blanket. He knew he must have one around here _somewhere._

“Oh, _Tommy,”_ Niki muttered, “Have you been living here this whole time?”

Tommy shrugged. “Eh, it wasn’t so bad at first.” He looked over the red-head, still holding Wilbur. “Put Wil on that couch, please. Tubbo, do you see a blue blanket anywhere?”

Tubbo hummed. “Um… no, but there’s a blue sheep on that top shelf.”

Tommy whipped his head up to the top shelf, and sure enough, Wilbur’s slightly-worn plush sheep, Friend, was sitting there, looking as though he had been patiently waiting for this moment for the entire year.

Maybe it had. Tommy had honestly forgotten he had put him there, which was a strange thought, considering Tommy hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of him when he first heard the news about Kerberos.

Just thinking about that time made Tommy’s chest hurt, and he looked back at Wilbur’s unconscious form on the couch. Wilbur was alive. Wilbur was safe.

Well… as safe as one could be in Tommy’s shack. Which was honestly debatable.

“Oh, I found a blanket!” Niki exclaimed, lifting the blanket out from underneath the table in the center of the room.

As Niki carefully tucked the blanket over Wilbur, Tommy stood on his toes and grabbed Friend off of the top of the shelf. He was dusty from the months of neglect, and Tommy carefully tried to pat it off, causing a visible dust-cloud.

Guilt throbbed underneath Tommy’s chest. He should’ve taken better care of one of Wilbur’s most prized possessions. Especially when Wilbur had left it with Tommy, saying that he knew Tommy would take good care of Friend while Wilbur was away.

Tommy hadn’t done a good job.

The scars on his forearms ached, and Tommy tugged down at the long sleeves of his red hoodie instinctively.

Tommy sighed and placed Friend in Wilbur’s living hand. Wilbur made a small sound, which gave Tommy hope that he would wake up sometime soon.

“Okay,” Tommy said, turning around to face his three guests, “I feel some explanations are in order.”

“Okay,” Tubbo said, “What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with the basics.” Tommy pointed the red-head. “Who the hell is this guy?”

The red-head sputtered. “I’m Fundy?” he said, sounding insulted, “You know, the second-best pilot in your class?”

Come to think of it, Tommy could remember a red-headed cargo pilot back before he had been expelled.

“I thought you were a cargo pilot?” Tommy asked, his eyes furrowed in confusion.

Fundy crossed his arms. “Yeah, that was before _you_ flunked out.”

Tommy flinched, but he tried to cover it up with a scoff and an eye-roll.

“I didn’t ‘flunk-out,’” he said, using air-quotes, “I was expelled for giving Commander Manifold a well-deserved punch to the face.”

Tubbo snorted, and Niki gave him a disapproving look.

“What?” Tubbo asked defensively, “He did deserve it! After all that crap he said about the crew?”

“It was pretty dumb,” Fundy agreed, his arms still crossed, “I mean, Soot’s the best pilot in the Garrison, and they kept acting like the incident was due to ‘pilot error,’ which it obviously isn’t.”

“It’s a cover-up,” Tubbo said, his face suddenly very serious, “I was hacking into some files, and I found some very concerning footage. I was going to tell you, but you didn’t seem to be receiving any of my messages.”

Tommy glanced at his dirty boots. “Yeah, uh, couldn’t exactly pay for service out here.”

“Makes sense,” Tubbo said simply.

Fundy glanced around the place. “Why are you living here anyway?”

Tommy flinched again, which he _hated,_ but he crossed his arms. “Because it’s the only place I could find, _moron,”_ he snarled, “I’d like to see you do any better.”

Fundy blinked, looking surprised. He went to speak, but Tommy interrupted him.

“Anyway, I’m not done with my questions. Why were you guys breaking into the alien crash-site?”

Fundy snorted. “Like you’re one to talk.”

“Well, _I_ was on the roof, minding my own business,” Tubbo said, “And then _Niki_ insisted on team bonding exercises because our teamwork skills have been a little _lacking.”_

Tommy tried to ignore the pain in his chest when he heard “team bonding.” He and Tubbo had always planned on being on the same crew for years while they were in the garrison. But then Tommy got kicked, and Tubbo was given a new pilot.

“I tried to tell her that we’d get expelled for running around at curfew,” Fundy said long-sufferingly, “But she _insisted.”_

Tommy snorted. That sounded like Niki. She was typically a stickler for the rules, but if she believed strongly about something, she would _do it._

“Well, it worked out in the end, didn’t it?” she asked, gesturing to Wilbur’s still unconscious form, “We found Wil! That means that we might be able to find Eret too!”

Tommy shifted in discomfort, staring at his disgusting wood floors. He felt dirty, having gotten his older brother back while Tubbo and Niki were still waiting for Eret.

“We have to wait for him to wake up first,” Tommy grunted, “I’m going to see if I can’t find something for him to wear.”

Niki, Tubbo, and Fundy began putting all of the trash in a stray trash bag, which took about an hour. Tommy tried to ignore the uneasiness in his gut that came with it. They were just being nice. It wasn’t pity. Tommy had known Tubbo and Niki for years. It wasn’t pity.

But if they really were just being kind, then what had Tommy done to earn it? Nothing, because he was just a worthless—

Wilbur let out a moan, and Tommy was by his brother’s side in an instant, watching as Wilbur slowly blinked awake.

“What?” Wilbur murmured, blinking up at the ceiling, “Where…?”

Wilbur sat up quickly, causing Tommy to let out a startled yelp. Wilbur’s voice became desperate as he looked around frantically. “You have to listen, they’re coming! We have to—"

Wilbur’s eyes snapped to Tommy. Wilbur’s eyes widened, and Tommy gave him a shaky smile.

“Tommy?” Wilbur whispered.

He reached out, touching Tommy’s cheek, and Tommy forced himself not to flinch away from the touch.

Besides, it felt so _warm._ When was the last time he had been touched like this?

“Is that really you?” Wilbur asked, his eyes glistening, “Tommy?”

Tommy swallowed back his own tears and nodded. “Yeah,” he said, his voice still choked up, “Yeah, it’s me, Wil.”

The next thing Tommy knew, his face was resting against Wilbur’s chest, and Wilbur was holding him in a firm embrace. It was strange, feeling one of the arms as cold instead of warm, but Tommy still leaned into the embrace, because, in the end, it was still _Wilbur._

“You’re safe,” Wilbur whispered.

 _As safe as I could be,_ Tommy chose not to say. Instead, he settled with a quiet “Yeah.”

After what felt like an eternity and only a millisecond, Wilbur pulled out of the embrace, looking up at the others.

“Tubbo, Niki, and… I’m sorry, have we met?”

Fundy gulped, looking suddenly nervous. “Fundy,” he said, stepping forward and holding his hand out to shake.

Wilbur held out his non-prosthetic hand, and Fundy quickly switched hands, murmuring apology.

“That’s alright,” Wilbur said, in a tone that Tommy recognized as his _“it’s not alright but there’s not much that can be done”_ voice, “Pleasure to meet you, Fundy.”

“Um, same to you, sir,” Fundy said, still looking strangely flustered.

“It’s good to see that you’re alright,” Niki said, “We thought…”

Wilbur sighed, running his metal fingers through his hair. Tommy tried not to stare at the white-streak, but that only caused him to stare at the metal arm, which wasn’t overly better.

“You thought I was dead.”

Tommy swallowed. “Um… yeah.”

Wilbur glanced down at the couch, picking up friend, whom he had dropped earlier. Wilbur stared, and Tommy half-expected him to start ‘awwing’ or something.

“You kept Friend?” Wilbur whispered instead, his voice raw and unbelieving.

Tommy shrugged, focusing his eyes on a stain on the wall behind Wilbur. “Of course, I did,” he said simply, “What did you think I would do, throw him out?”

Wilbur smiled softly. “Of course not,” he said, ruffling Tommy’s hair.

Tommy flinched, and Wilbur frowned again, retracting his hand. Tommy felt bad, but Wilbur had started looking around the decrepit shack with vague interest.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Tommy’s shack,” Tubbo supplied, “He lives here, apparently.”

Wilbur snapped his attention back toward Tommy, and Tommy forced himself not to shrink back.

“Why are you living in a shack?” Wilbur demanded, “I thought you were at the garrison.”

Tommy stood up and scowled, crossing his arms. “I got expelled,” he muttered, “For punching Commander Manifold in the face.”

“ _Tommy,”_ Wilbur groaned.

“He deserved it,” Tommy protested, “You should’ve heard him, he kept talking about pilot error, like it was _your fault_ that you… you…” He frowned. “Wilbur, what happened to you?”

Wilbur closed his eyes and let out a shuddering breath.

“We were… taken,” he muttered, “By aliens, I guess. We…” Wilbur opened his eyes. “I… it doesn’t matter.” Wilbur’s voice was much firmer this time. “It’s clear the garrison won’t believe a word I say, so I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. These aliens are searching for something called _Voltron,_ so we need to find it before they do.”

Tommy’s blood ran cold, but it was Tubbo who spoke first.

“Funny you should say that,” he said, “Because I’ve been tracking alien frequencies, and that word’s been popping up quite a bit.”

Wilbur massaged his temple. “They’re coming,” he muttered, “They know it’s here. We have to find it first.”

Tommy cleared his throat. “I… may be able to help with that.”

Wilbur perked up. “Really?”

Tommy clenched his fists, allowing the pain of his nails to dig into his palms painfully. “Actually, I think I know where it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write this so I did. Also, I was feeling nostalgic over Voltron. This is pretty self-indulgent. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, please be nice in the comments, and thank you for reading! <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Voltron is five lions,” Tommy explained, “To make one giant, very pog robot.”
> 
> “How?” Tubbo asked, sounding dumbstruck.
> 
> Tommy sighed. “Robotic lions,” he clarified, “Voltron is five robot lions that make one very pog robot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: implied/referenced child abuse, implied genocide (but you'd have to watch the show to know it i haven't gotten to that part of exposition), implied/referenced amputation and captivity, memory loss, ptsd

Tommy remembered the first time he found the caves with the lion carvings on the walls.

He couldn’t explain what had happened. He just knew that he had found this strange _pull,_ like something was calling out to him.

So, Tommy had done the only logical thing. He followed the pull and found the cave he, Wilbur, Tubbo, Niki, and Fundy were standing in now. He found the lion carvings and continued to explore deeper into the cave until he had found the blue lion itself.

“So, first of all,” Tommy said, leading everyone through the tunnels, “I don’t know where _all_ of Voltron is.”

“What does that even mean?” Fundy asked, staring at the carvings as they walked by, “I thought you said you knew where it was.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and _now_ I’m saying that I only know where this specific lion is.”

“Wait a moment, lion?” Tubbo asked, “I thought we were looking for space technology. How could they possibly have _lions?”_

You know… that was an interesting point. Were there lions up in space? Did humans name lions after the lions of Voltron? That didn’t make too much sense, since Tommy hadn’t even _known_ what Voltron was until ten months ago. Maybe lion was just the closest term in the English language?

It didn’t exactly matter.

“Voltron is five lions,” Tommy explained, “To make one giant, very pog robot.”

“How?” Tubbo asked, sounding dumbstruck.

Tommy sighed. “ _Robotic_ lions,” he clarified, “Voltron is five _robot_ lions that make one very pog robot.”

“That’s _fascinating!”_ Niki exclaimed, her voice echoing off of the tunnels, “How did you even come across all this?”

Tommy shrugged, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. “Well… sometime after Wilbur… disappeared… I felt this strange energy…connection crap. So… I followed it and found this place.”

Tommy glanced back at Wilbur, who was currently wearing a yellow jumper that Tommy had managed to find for him. Wilbur was staring at him strangely but quickly smoothed his face out when he saw Tommy was looking at him.

Tommy decided not to dwell on it too much. It wasn’t worth the extra brain-power.

Tommy stopped in front of what looked like a dead end. Tubbo gave him a strange look. “Um… that’s a wall.”

Tommy snorted. “That’s what you think.”

Tommy placed his hand on an unassuming part of the rock and pressed down. A door opened, revealing a sloping tunnel downwards.

Tommy laughed at the surprise on all of their faces.

“I hate alien technology,” Wilbur grumbled as they started making their way down the winding tunnel, “Why is there alien technology on earth anyway? How come we haven’t noticed it before? This is what I need to know.”

“Hey, I noticed it,” Tommy squawked indignantly.

“Yeah, how _did_ you notice it?” Wilbur asked, “That button was all but impossible to spot.”

Tommy smirked. “Magic,” he said.

Wilbur let out a small snort.

“Okay, but seriously,” he said, “I’m curious. Besides, you’ll need to practice for the history books. They’ll all want to know how you found an alien robot stashed away on earth.”

Tommy’s heart skipped a beat. How many people would find out? He had said he wouldn’t tell anyone, and here he was, leading his friends straight to the lion itself.

But it was for a good cause. It would be fine. Besides, Tommy hadn’t even seen _him_ in weeks.

Right?

“I’m not lying big man, I think it actually _was_ magic” Tommy said, trying to keep his heart from racing too much, “The energy was getting really whack, and it was like something was guiding my hand to press the button!”

Fundy laughed, mildly hysterically. “Of course,” he said, “Because on top of aliens, we get to deal with magic too.”

Tommy scowled. “Listen, I didn’t _choose_ to have a lion magically draw me to this place—”

“You just said that the lion was a robot,” Fundy pointed out, “How could it possibly be magic?!”

Tommy opened his mouth to give Fundy a few choice words, but Niki raised her hands placatingly.

“There’s no point in arguing it now,” she said, “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this.”

Tommy shut his mouth firmly, but he gave Fundy a glare. Fundy glared right back at him.

“Honestly,” Wilbur sighed, “I wouldn’t even be surprised if magic existed on top of all of this.”

Tommy saw the tunnel open up. “Alright,” he said, “This is it.”

They entered the cavern, where the blue lion still sat passively. The particle barrier was still stubbornly up around it, stopping anyone who wanted to just do _one thing_. Tommy _hated_ that barrier.

“Woah,” Tubbo breathed out.

“That _technology,”_ Niki said, walking over and resting her hand on the particle barrier, “And those carvings looked _ancient.”_

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Wilbur said, opening and closing the fist of his artificial arm.

“Hey Blue,” Tommy said bitterly, leaning against her particle barrier, “I hope you didn’t miss me, because I sure as hell didn’t miss you.”

“Now, Tommy,” Wilbur said chidingly, still staring up at the lion, “What has Blue ever done to you?”

Tommy scoffed. “That’s between us.” He kicked the particle barrier with the back of his heel, only succeeding in making a barely perceptible vibration through the barrier.

Fundy was staring at blue weirdly. “Does anyone else feel like it’s staring at you?”

“What happened to ‘it was a robot’?” Tommy asked, putting his fingers into air quotes.

“That was before it started _staring_ at me,” Fundy said, walking around Blue and peering at her suspiciously.

Tubbo laughed. “Fundy, I think you’re imagining things. Her eyes are literally yellow rectangles.”

Fundy sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “You’re probably right,” he admitted, walking closer to the barrier, “Still, it’s weird.”

“Welcome to my life,” Tommy muttered under his breath. He leaned further against the particle barrier, almost as though he were testing its ability to carry his weight. “Well, you saw it,” he said more loudly, “Honestly, there’s not much to see here, and none of us are getting through his particle barrier, so…”

Wilbur scowled, crossing his arms. “What do you suggest, we just sit here while the Galra come and take you all to gladiator rings?”

Tommy flinched at the harshness of his tone.

“Who are the Galra?” Tubbo asked.

Wilbur sighed, his face becoming more passive. “Just the aliens who took us,” he said quietly.

“Surely there’s _some_ way to get through the barrier,” Niki said knocking on it lightly.

“Listen, I’ve tried _everything,”_ Tommy sighed, watching as Fundy reached out to touch the barrier, “So we might as we—WHAT THE _HELL_.”

Tommy fell backward as the barrier disappeared, and it was only thanks to his expert reflexes that he didn’t bash his head against the cave floor. He rolled back and landed on his feet, staring at the Blue Lion, who had _moved._

She had _moved._ After _months_ of Tommy begging her to let him in, after _months_ of Tommy doing everything in his power to get the barrier to come down, and _Fundy,_ this dude Tommy had met _hours_ ago, was the one who had managed to get through to her.

_Useless. Pathetic. Worthless._

And then Blue opened her bloody mouth and _roared._

Images flashed across Tommy’s mind. _Five lions. Black, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green. Forming a Voltron._

And as soon as they came, they were gone, leaving Tommy breathless in the middle of a cave.

“Oh god,” Wilbur whispered, “It _is_ magic.” He looked down at his right arm, as if the prosthetic could possibly hold magical capabilities.

“Tommy…” Niki breathed, “How did you know about this? Did you see the same vision before?”

“Um… yeah!” Tommy said in a high-pitched tone, trying to hide his panic, “Yeah, it, uh, happened… before.”

Wilbur peered at him suspiciously, but Fundy was already climbing into the lion’s mouth, so Tommy was quick to follow him; Niki, Fundy, and Wilbur came quickly in tow.

“How did you do that?” Tommy demanded as Fundy moved into the cockpit, sliding into the padded pilot’s seat.

Fundy grinned. “I don’t know,” he said, sounding _excited_ or something dumb like that, “I just touched it. And now it sounds like it’s _talking_ to me.”

“Well, regardless, this is an excellent turn of events,” Wilbur said, patting Fundy on the shoulder, “Good work.”

Tommy’s insides burned with jealousy. Which was so _stupid_. They were currently trying to stop _aliens_ from finding a ship, and Tommy was being _jealous_ of the one person who had any hope of getting it away from them?

_Ungrateful._

Tommy’s jealousy gave way to surprise as Fundy grabbed the steering handles and the lion _leaped_ into the air, crashing through the cave like it was nothing but _drywall._

Tommy quickly grabbed onto Wilbur, who in turn grabbed onto the sides of the ship as they started _spinning around_ in the sky like they were at some kind of stupid _air show._

“What are you doing?!” Niki shouted over everyone else’s screaming.

“I’m not doing anything!” Fundy shouted back, still grinning, “It’s on autopilot or something.”

Great. Now the lion was on freaking _autopilot._ Because that made things so much better.

Tommy let out another startled scream, now full-on hugging Wilbur, as they launched higher into the air.

“You are the worst pilot I have ever seen!” Tommy shouted as they started to go through the atmosphere and into _space_ , “I could do so much better than—”

He was interrupted by a spaceship literally appearing out of _nowhere._

“Oh my god,” Tubbo said, “It’s like we’re in star wars.”

“Damnit,” Wilbur swore, “They found me. Fundy, you need to get them away from us.”

Wilbur’s voice was more panicked than Tommy had ever heard it, and Tommy wondered not for the first time how _bad_ it had been in captivity for Wilbur.

“I think I might have a better idea,” Fundy said, launching the lion _toward_ the space ship instead of _away._

Tommy could only gape in shock as Fundy singlehandedly destroyed the alien spaceship with the lion. Wilbur began laughing as the entire ship exploded.

“This is amazing,” he cried, “This is the best thing I’ve seen all year.”

The lion continued moving farther and farther away from earth.

“Oh my…” Niki gasped, “That’s Kerberos.”

“This is insane,” Tubbo muttered, “This is so insane. We are in a magical lion that just destroyed an alien spaceship and can traverse the solar system in seconds.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Wilbur muttered.

Tommy couldn’t even be surprised when a strange wormhole type thing opened up in space. Because of course Blue could create a wormhole. Of course, she could for _Fundy._

Maybe Tommy was being a little bitter. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Tubbo could hardly believe this.

He was in _space._ Not only outer space, he was in a magical robot lion that had just taken them through a magical wormhole, and now they were heading down onto an _unknown_ planet.

This was insane. This was absolutely mental. Tubbo could not believe this.

Not only that, but they had found _Wilbur._ Well, more precisely, Wilbur had found them, but that was completely beside the point. If Wilbur was still alive, then what’s to say that Eret wasn’t still alive too?

Tubbo and Niki could save Eret. They could finally reunite after so long.

Tubbo could hardly believe it.

The lion had finally landed on the planet, and everyone filed off. They found themselves in a castle, which apparently had _incredibly_ advanced technology, and they were led to this strange room.

“Where do you reckon this is?” Fundy asked.

Tommy glared at Fundy. “Does it look like I have all the answers? Because I’m not a damn encyclopedia.”

Huh, Tommy had actually been glaring at Fundy a lot since Fundy had gotten the Blue lion to work. Tubbo would have to talk to Tommy about that.

Actually, based off of the look that Wilbur gave Tommy; Wilbur might just do it for him. That was probably for the best anyway; Tommy was more likely to receive a talking to from his older brother than his best friend.

“Sorry man,” Fundy said, “It was just a rhetorical question anyway.”

Tommy’s glare didn’t abate, but he did let out a little sigh. “Right, sorry.”

Still, Tubbo had better ask Wilbur about it just to make sure. He would hate to let bitterness fester inside of Tommy until it boiled over to some disaster, especially when it seemed like some evil alien race was trying to find this Voltron.

In all honesty, Tubbo still had barely any idea what was going on.

Niki walked up to a weird glass pod thing. “I wonder…” she muttered, lightly brushing her hand against it.

Instantly, the glass—which couldn’t be glass—fell away, and a _boy_ fell into Niki’s arms.

“Oh my!” she exclaimed, holding the boy up as best she could, considering that the boy was incredibly tall, “Hello? Are you okay?”

The boy groaned, blinking his eyes open. “What…where am I?” He looked up at Niki, who was still holding him with mild difficulty, “Who are you?”

“Um… I’m Niki,” Niki said, smiling, “Who are you?”

With Niki’s help, the boy stood up on his own, holding his head in his hands. “I’m… I’m Ranboo,” he said, “I think.”

Tommy frowned. “What do you mean, you _think_?”

“ _Tommy,”_ Wilbur said sharply.

Tommy _shrunk_ _away,_ whispering, “Sorry.”

What the hell? Since when did Tommy shrink away from people? And this had to be the second time Tubbo had heard Tommy apologize in the hour. Since when did Tommy _apologize?_ Typically, Tommy showed remorse in subtler ways, never with an actual apology.

Not for the first time, Tubbo felt a pang of guilt for letting his friend leave the Garrison and strike out on his own, because clearly something had happened that Tommy wasn’t telling them.

“I… I don’t remember much. Why don’t I remember much?” Ranboo said, his voice getting panicked as he looked at all of them with a fear.

Now that Ranboo was actually _looking_ at Tubbo, he got a better look at his face. Ranboo’s pointy elf-ears were framed by his heterochromatic black and white hair, and it seemed that there were two face markings under his heterochromatic eyes, which were black and white as well.

Interesting. Everything else about Ranboo seemed to be humanoid.

“That’s okay!” Tubbo said, trying to calm Ranboo down, “You don’t have to remember much! We just have no idea where we are, so we were wondering if you had any idea as well. It’s perfectly alright if you don’t.”

“What he said,” Wilbur agreed.

Ranboo seemed to relax a little bit at this, but he was still clutching his head with one hand, as if the contact would bring back some memories. Who knew? Maybe it would. Tubbo wasn’t exactly an expert on how the _human_ brain worked, much less on how alien brains worked.

“There’s another pod,” Tommy observed, walking up to the pod that was next to Ranboo’s, “You reckon someone else is in there as well?”

“Probably?” Ranboo said, sounding unsure.

Tommy nodded, and clearly that was enough for him, because the next thing he did was knock lightly on the surface of the pod. Like before, the surface of the pod disappeared. However, unlike last time, nobody collapsed into Tommy’s arms.

Instead, somebody _leaped_ out of the pod, letting out a crazed war cry.

Tommy let out a horrified shriek as he dodged the dude’s ninja attack.

“Trespassers!” the new dude exclaimed, and Tubbo noticed that they had also had pointy ears and facial markings, although these were dark blue. “Don’t step any closer!”

Tommy moved into a defensive position to match the stranger’s. “Or what?”

“Trust me,” the stranger said, “You don’t want to know what I’m capable of.”

“Try me,” Tommy challenged.

Wilbur sighed. “Tommy, maybe we shouldn’t try to antagonize the owners of this castle?”

“Wait,” Ranboo said, sounding surprised, “We’re in a castle?”

The stranger straightened, as though completely forgetting that he was threatening Tommy just moments before. “We are, in fact, in a castle,” he said, “The Castle of Lions. My grandfather made this castle after a bet he made while drunk—”

“Wait a minute,” Fundy interrupted, “Your grandfather made this whole castle because he made a drunken bet?”

“Yes, weren’t you paying attention?” the stranger sighed, “Anyway, I told him—”

“Quackity?” Ranboo whispered, “Is that you?”

The stranger, whose name was apparently Quackity, jumped and ran up to Ranboo. “Prince Ranboo!” he exclaimed, “It’s such a relief to see you’re alright, man!”

“Uh… thanks?” Ranboo said, “I think something went wrong with the pods, though, because I don’t actually… remember much.”

Quackity swore. “Of course,” he muttered, “First Galra invasions, then hiding the lions, and now memory loss. Exactly what we need after… wait how long has it been?”

Ranboo shrugged, and Quackity pulled up some sort of computer. His eyes widened dramatically, which told Tubbo next to nothing.

“Oh crap,” he muttered, “Oh man, that’s a long time. That’s a very long time.”

“Uh… how long has it been?” Fundy was the first to ask.

“Ten-thousand Deca-Phoebs!” Quackity began frantically typing on the holographic display. “No wonder something went wrong in your cryo-pod, Ranboo, it’s a miracle our bodies are still functioning after all that time.”

Ranboo’s eyes widened. “ _Ten-thousand?”_ he demanded, “There’s _no way_ it’s been ten-thousand.”

Tubbo had no idea what a deco-phoeb was, but he figured it was a very long time.

“Anyone want to let us in on the secret?” Tommy asked, crossing his arms, “What the hell is a deca-phoeb?”

Quackity stared blankly at him. “It’s a deca-phoeb? Ten phoebs? Forty movements? I’d give you more numbers but I can’t do math that well inside my head.”

“Surely there’s a calculator on your computer?” Niki asked, gesturing to the screen in front of Quackity.

Wilbur hummed. “I’m pretty sure a deca-phoeb is about a year,” he said, his voice serious, “I’ve heard the Galra use it enough times to piece together that much.”

Quackity’s face darkened. “You know the Galra?”

It was Tommy, of all people, who took a large step away from Quackity. Wilbur, however, held his ground, flexing his robotic arm, which was an incredible feat of science all on his own.

Tubbo honestly thought he might be dreaming right now.

“Trust me,” Wilbur said, his voice darker than Tubbo had ever heard it, “I know better than anyone how evil the Galra can be.”

Quackity nodded. “Good.”

Ranboo frowned. “Galra… I thought we were friends with the Galra? But no… wait… I remember…” Ranboo’s face darkened. “ _Schlatt.”_

Tommy’s face flickered with surprise, but it was Wilbur who spoke.

“Don’t get me started on Schlatt,” he growled, “I would love nothing more than to tear that man…” He trailed off after glancing at Tommy, who was staring at Wilbur with wide and mildly scared looking eyes. Honestly, Tubbo couldn’t blame him; Wilbur had gotten a little scary.

“I thought Schlatt was the Galran Emperor?” Tommy asked. How did _Tommy_ know about this? “How the hell do you know him?”

Quackity’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? Schlatt was the emperor in _our_ time, and that was _eons_ ago.”

“I don’t know how,” Wilbur said grimly, giving Tommy a look that matched Tubbo’s surprise, “But he’s still here. He even has a son now, from what I’ve heard.”

“Well that’s just great,” Quackity said sarcastically, “Double the trouble I guess.”

“I’ve heard the son was nicer than the rest,” Tommy said, his voice trembling slightly, “That he wants to change things.”

“And _I’ve_ heard that his son is more manipulative than J’schlatt himself,” Wilbur countered, “So we can’t both be right.”

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Fundy interrupted, “How do you know about this Tommy?”

Tommy flinched. “No reason,” he said far too quickly.

Yeah, that was _really_ convincing.

“I hate to interrupt this,” Ranboo said, “I really do, but um… can I ask how you guys got here?”

Oh yeah, they hadn’t mentioned that, had they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I am back. 
> 
> Sorry the chapter ended kind of abruptly but I needed to stop so I could sleep so yeah. 
> 
> Tommy has trauma, look at him go. 
> 
> Dream plays a very major role in this, please don't be worried. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you, I hope you enjoyed, please be nice in the comments, and you are all awesome! <3


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